Planning = Success

     Hello and welcome. Although our progress was stalled a bit, we are back on track. Ryan is working away, and as am I. We plan on meeting after school a few times later during this week, like Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I plan on taking more shots of Chase tomorrow night when he gets back from work, and should be close to finished with shooting. When Ryan and I do meet up we will compile the clips into a coherent video draft, then whatever shots we feel need revision we will reshoot, edit, or replace with new shots. So far, so good.
   

The royalty free spy background music my partner and I decided on

Partnership & Planning

     Welcome back to the 'richblogdog!' My partner, Ryan, and I have been unable to meet up since he lives in Hollywood and neither of us can drive because he doesn't have his license and my car needs a new front tire, therefore, through the beauty of technology, we are working together while apart.  I am filming Chase, my sister is taking behind the scenes shots, and Ryan is working on the foley sounds filming his foley stage. This is the plan we both came up with over the phone since we have been incapable of meeting up lately due to many valid reasons. It seems to me to be a good plan, we shall see. Hopefully plans will work and schedules will cooperate.

My sister as the behind the scenes helper

Filming and Overcoming Challenges

     Hello there and welcome back. I filmed some more yesterday that I didn't get the chance to fill the 'richblogdog' on. So, to film the morning wake up scene of Chase as a spy getting ready for his day upon waking, we need it to be dark outside, it needs to be 'daybreak.' Well, the day I filmed I was not there early enough to be shooting before sunrise, daybreak, and so I had to overcome this challenge.

     To overcome this hurdle I taped up black garbage bags with red tape to his bedroom window. This not only completely darkened the room, but also gave a red tint to the room, which is the desired effect I wanted to achieve to emulate sunrise hues of color peeking through the window.

Filming and Making it Work

     Hello and welcome back to another posting on this special 'richblogdog,' made especially for your viewing pleasure (and mine). Let's get right into it.

     Ryan and I have been communicating about meeting up and it has been without success since our schedules are not syncing up. We will keep trying though throughout this week break. This is one thing I was worried about going into this project with a partner rather than going at it alone, but each has its pros and cons and I cannot change it now, so going forward we will try our best to work together however it works, whatever it takes. 

     So, onto the more important stuff, the main reason for this posting. This morning at around 9 I went to Chase's house to film. Chase is excited to be filmed as a spy since he sees himself as one already, in a way. I say this because he owns several weapons, knows how to responsibly use them and has handled them for years, and so he is trained with experience, like a spy would be. This could be something we could utilize in our film opening with shots of him shooting at a gun range since that fits the conventions of my genre as a dramatic spy movie. One should not forget or discount the comedic relief that will be present in this film opening. 

All great dramas have bits, some less and some more than others, of comedy, which is why Ryan and I thought of including some in our's. One example of this comedic relief is the inclusion of a coffee mug showing "old ass" instead of "World Class" from fingerprint wear. Little bits like these, I believe, make a world of difference in production value. This brings me to a point of the importance of utilizing props as a student on a limited budget. I used a blank, white coffee mug and wrote on it with a blue dry erase marker, then I dabbed my finger on the letters to fake the natural rub away of fingerprint wear-and-tear that occurs from daily coffee drinking from the same mug.

Continue

     Hello there, I have made plans with my sister and her boyfriend, Chase, to begin filming. His work schedule and her schooling schedule have been quite hectic, and mine has too until this Spring break, but now is the time to continue. So, tomorrow morning I will film Chase getting ready for the day. I am ready for the day ahead, and excited for what's to come. It is the time to continue.

Let's gooooooooo

     Spring Break here we comeeeeee. Ryan and I must work during this break, however, it is a well-needed break since we need a break from school as the hectic third quarter just ended. It is a break that will boost productivity because it is needed rest that will leave us refreshed and ready to go, ready for whatever will come our way. Ryan and I will be filming next week during our break though and want to be editing by the end of the week break.
     I am in contact with my sister, her boyfriend, and my other friendly helpers in order to make sure the collaboration will be possible and when. We shall see how successful this proves to be in the coming posts.

R&R Productions begins producing...

We finally have begun to take some shots to test and begun the production process. 

These are the test shots taken of my sister's boyfriend, Chase, on his motorcycle. We talked about mounting his "Go Pro" on his helmet to add some POV shots. I liked the angle of these shots and how he zoomed by. My friend Miguel will also film drone overhead shots soon! Excited for what's to come and with how it's coming along.